THE brother of an East Lancashire woman died after being left lying in a crumpled heap on the floor of a police custody suite as five police officers stood by, a court was told.

Christopher Alder, whose sister Janet lives in Manchester Road, Burnley, was taken into police custody on April 1, 1998, following a fracas outside a night club which left him dazed, confused and aggressive, a jury at Teesside Crown Court was told.

Five Humberside Police officers -- Constables Nigel Thomas Dawson, 39, Neil Blakey, 42, Mark Ellerington, 36, and Matthew Barr, 38, and custody Sergeant John Dunn, 40 -- deny the manslaughter of Mr Alder.

They all also deny a charge of misconduct in a public office.

James Curtis QC, prosecuting, told the jury Mr Alder died while in custody and in "police care."

Mr Curtis told the court that Mr Alder had been drinking and was temporarily knocked unconscious after a fight which caused him to fall and hit his head.

He was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary but, having regained consciousness, his behaviour became "so confused, so aggressive and so unco-operative as to make it impossible for the staff to treat him".

Dawson and Blakey went to the hospital to interview Mr Alder as the victim of an assault, but his increasingly aggressive behaviour forced them to first warn him and later arrest him.

He was handcuffed before being put into the back of a police van driven by Ellerington and driven to Hull Police Station.

He was "booked in" by Dunn, who was being assisted by Barr, Mr Curtis told the jury of five women and seven men.

"By the time Christopher Alder arrived at the police station he was deeply unconscious. He never regained consciousness," he went on.

"He was dragged into the police station with his feet trailing behind him.

"His trousers and his underpants were down his legs, his trousers still apparently done up.

"He was placed on the custody area floor on his front with his head sideways.

"This had, you will hear, the double effect of reducing his ability to breath."

Mr Alder was sick at the police station, and breathed in a quantity of blood and vomit, Mr Curtis said.

"He was left in that condition for some three minutes by these police officers, grunting and breathing raucously every 10 seconds or so."

The officers removed Mr Alder's handcuffs but he remained on the floor in the same position and still deeply unconscious for a further seven minutes, still breathing raucously from time to time.

"He then stopped breathing, regrettably, and never breathed again," Mr Curtis said.

All five defendants were at the police station during this time, although Ellerington had left the room after a comparatively short time.

Mr Curtis said the officers owed Mr Alder a duty of care to "protect his health and his welfare" and all had been in breach of that duty.

The jury was told the police were left without any doubt that hospital staff had not finished treating Mr Alder for a large lump to his head and cuts to his mouth, but that they were unable to help him in his aggressive state.

Mr Alder's dying breaths were played to the jury who sat hushed throughout the 15 minutes of footage from one of the police station's nine CCTV cameras.

(Proceeding)